Early on 22nd September 1914 the elderly cruisers HMS Aboukir, HMS Hogue and HMS Cressy were on patrol in the area of the North Sea known as the Broad Fourteens. The German submarine U9 sighted the three vessels steaming at about 10 knots without zigzagging. Although the patrols were supposed to maintain 12-13 knots and zigzag the old cruisers were unable to maintain that speed and the zigzagging order was widely ignored as there had been no submarines sighted in the area so far during the war. U9 fired a torpedo hitting the Aboukir. The two other cruisers closed to give assistance and U9 fired two more torpedoes which hit Hogue. Two more torpedoes sealed Cressy’s fate. In all 837 men were rescued from the three cruisers but 1459 were lost.